To fans of Friday Night Lights, Gaius Charles will forever be known and loved as cocky running back Brian “Smash” Williams, who left the show midway through last season as a graduated senior with a football scholarship. Though he’s off FNL (for the moment), Charles is keeping busy — tomorrow he begins previews for the Public Theater’s new production of Othello (starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Ortiz, and running in a limited engagement through October 4), in which he plays the dual roles of the Duke and Lodovico. He took a break from rehearsal to talk to Vulture about the play, his theater background, and his continuing legacy as Smash.
On to Friday Night Lights — will we be seeing Smash come back in the next season at all?
Well, you know, Sean Connery said “Never say never.” We’ll see. I talked to Peter Berg last Monday, I think it was the first day of filming season four, just talking about plans for story lines, and you never know. I’m thankful if the story has ended, but I’d be open to coming back.
Did you like the way Smash was sent off last season?
I remember the day that script was delivered and opening it, like, “This is IT.” I remember reading it page by page, reading every word, taking in every word. I didn’t say, “Well, I want to exit like this,” but I think the writers knew me so well and they knew my feelings about the character. I couldn’t have asked for them to tell the story any better.
Do people constantly call you Smash on the street?
They do! I was just eating lunch on the corner on NYU’s campus and someone was like, “Smash!” I’m eating my turkey club and I hear “Smash! I’m on season two, episode six!” I honestly forget that people see me as that. I’m like, “Oh, Smash, that’s me, okay!”
Read the rest: Gaius Charles on Friday Night Lights, Othello, and His Shakespearean Name — Vulture.
